Food Porn: Mother’s

For years my friends have told me to go to Mother’s. However, for one reason or another I have not had the chance to try it. Finally, when Alli asked me where I wanted to go for my birthday dinner, I knew it was time. Located on Virginia street (off of Allen) Mother’s is easy to miss; heck, I didn’t even know that it was located literally next door to Fat Bob’s, which I have been to countless times for lunch lately.

The only marking on the building is a picture of the classic “mom” tattoo…a heart with ‘Mothers’ written through it. Once I walked in, I automatically knew I was going to enjoy myself. The inside is small and stuffy, yet relaxed and modern. During the week I hear it gets quite full with business men and women after work, especially at the bar. We went on a Saturday at 6pm, and surprisingly it was not very crowded at all. We had a reservation, which they recommend, however, I am not sure we really needed it. Our table was ready, and our waitress came right over, which was nice seeing as before dinner I did some google-ing and found quite a few bad reviews regarding the service at Mothers. Luckily we did not have this problem at all, our waitress was friendly, our water glasses were always full, we had fresh (and warm) bread right away, and our food came out quick and made perfectly to order.

One positive thing I heard about this restaurant that excited me the most was that everyday they have a unique list of specials made fresh. You could literally go there on a Monday and revisit on a Tuesday and you could have a completely different meal. In addition, they serve food everyday until 3am, which is more you can say for most upscale restuarants (obviously not including Dennys or Towne, etc).

While the regular menu (which is short and sweet, one page in length) had quite a few entrees that sounded fabulous, we decided to order primarily off the special menu, which was hand written and as long as the regular menu and included appetizers, soups, salads, and entrees.

We stared off with something new, soft shell crab as an appetizer ($13). Now, Alli and I both love crab meat to death but we have never tried soft shell crab. I am now a huge fan, sure it was weird eating the entire crab (shell and all) but combined with a “toasted almond, lemon, chive butter sauce” it was amazing.

For my main course, I had considered trying something way out in left field. They had an interesting Tuna dish on the menu, and a bunch of other seafood options, but I went for a chicken dish that sounded delicious. What you see above is the “French Chicken Breast stuffed with Ricotta, Mascarpone, Prosciutto, and Pine Nuts covered in a Garlic Cream and seasoned with Sun-dried Tomato and Basil” (~$20) Honestly, it really was one of the best meal’s I’ve ever posted on this website. Not only was stuffed cheese delicious and the cream sauce fantastic, but the actual chicken was cooked to perfection. Normally, at your regular everyday restuarant, chicken is chicken; it generally all tastes the same. In this dish, however, the chicken was so tender, juicy, and flavorful, I could have eaten it plain. If they have this on their special menu if you ever visit, do yourself a favor and order it.

Alli has been on a steak-a-thon of sorts lately and ordered herself the 16 oz strip steak, with garlic butter, fried onions, and Mothers homemade steaksauce ($23). Along with sides of Mashed Potatoes (with corn mixed in) and some big stalks of broccoli. The steak was huge and cooked perfectly to order (a very nice medium rare). The outside was crispy and seasoned while the inside was juicy….in other words, they know how to make a good steak. The steaksauce wasn’t anything special…just a thicker A1 style sauce. Alli’s only “complaint” was the mashed potatoes with corn. For whatever reason, she is not a fan of having those two mixed together into one. If you (like me) don’t mind, or actually enjoy mixing your veggies and potatoes together, you will love this side.

It took me a couple years to finally get a chance to eat at Mother’s and I have to say that it was well worth it. While it may not exactly be at the same level as Tempo or Left Bank, it is darn close. This is a place that I could find myself loving; a really cool location (Allentown), a cool building with a great patio (I hear its one of the best in Buffalo on a warm summer night), and a menu that constantly changes and is fresh and busting with tons of flavor. It is a bit pricey (our meal, sans dessert, was about 100$ after tax) and not something I could afford on a regular basis (20-25$ per entree). Furthermore, they have a decent selection of beers and, according to Alli they make a fantastic Whiskey Sour.

If you are looking for an online menu, sorry to say they do not have much of an internet presence; they have no website.

6 thoughts on “Food Porn: Mother’s”

thank you for that insight since mother’s is near the top of my list to go to. your posts should have more of what’s said in your 2nd paragraph describing in detail the atmosphere before you get into the food. i see you are getting better and better after each post after i read all of it.

the 3am time is also big since pano’s on elmwood now closes at 1am (used to be 24/7)

fyi vinny. i edit every post and I was the one who added in the paragraph about the atmosphere, actually i pretty much rewrote this whole post. so really i take all the credit for the posts getting “better” sorry donnie. its a true story.

So Donnie Bizzle, i always find myself checking your site for good tidbits on food in the area. And i am a big fan of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network. I was looking for a certain recipe and came across a section of his website where you can write in to places you feel he should visit. Everytime i watch the damn show i find myself saying why the eff cant he come here!!!! Anywho since your getting into the food hardcore, i was wondering if you might be interested in writing to him. I think it would be great to have Guy Fiere film a show here and putting B-Lo on the map a little bit, as well as help people from Buffalo who just do the food chains, some insight into places to check out! The email address is: DDDinfo@mac.com and all you have to do is write in places you think he should go to, and leave D-D-D’s your contact info incase they decide to visit based on your comments and ideas!

Uncle Bubs B.B.Q. in Westmont,Illinois is wonderful.The service is friendly and fast.They even donate to a charity every month,which is very refreshing.They come to your table to be sure everything is to your liking,[which is rare today, but not here].You get plenty of food, prepared and presented perfectly.They do everything right,great job.Any one who has not gone here has missed out!